Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. (John 14:1)

Discouragement is a temptation “common to man” (1 Corinthians 10:13). And in dealing with it sometimes we need tenderness and other times we need toughness. But either way discouragement is not to be tolerated or wallowed in. It’s to be fought.

If we linger in discouragement it can be costly. Its sense of defeat and hopelessness saps us of energy and vision. It can consume a lot of time. It can keep us from doing what we need to do because we don’t want to face it. And it can even be contagious, weakening others’ faith.

When we feel discouraged we want comfort, which is right to feel. But the comforts…

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Puritan Thomas Watson says it well. “After the fall, the affections were misplaced on wrong objects; in sanctification, they are turned into a sweet order and harmony, the grief placed on sin, the love on God, the joy on heaven.”*

Regeneration is the awakening and enlivening of the spiritual heart, and sanctification is the ongoing work of recalibrating the affections to cherish what God cherishes. And because we are becoming like what we worship, this is a critical work of grace in our hearts.

Sanctification is more than saying “no” to sin. Sanctification says “yes” to holiness and glad obedience to Jesus. Sanctification says yes to loving God and what he loves. Sanctification is all a…

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Chick-fil-A was a veritable tempest in a pot of iced tea in recent weeks. But we weren't afraid to touch on the subject, albeit tangentally, with an angle on the tolerance of God.

In this latest edition of Behind the Blog, we talk about the tolerance posts, give an update on new Piper publications, provide the backstory on several recent ventures, and offer a glimpse into what's in the works.

This time, at the request of our producer Stefan Green, we threw caution to the wind — along with our "less than five minutes" slogan — for a more extended edition of Behind the Blog. Below are links for the topics we touch on in this episode.

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2 Timothy 4:7–8 tells us that the apostle Paul will get a reward. The "crown of righteousness" awaits him. But why? What is this reward for?

Answer: fighting the fight of faith.

And there's more. The reward is not just for Paul, who has fought the fight of faith, but it's also for everyone who loves the appearing of Jesus.

Expounding these verses, John Piper explains how they teach us about the essence of faith, namely, that at the core of saving faith is wanting Jesus.

This excerpt begins at the 24:24 mark of this week's sermon.

Right at the core of saving faith is wanting Jesus, desiring Jesus, craving fellowship with Jesus. Faith is not simply acknowledging facts about…

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Holiness starts with God. Discussions about holiness get off on the wrong foot when they begin with what we don’t do, rather than with who God is.

This is essential to keep in mind as we talk about sanctification — the process of our becoming holy. Before we get too far down the road with the derivative holiness of the creature, let’s tune into the original holiness of the Creator.

The holiness of God, says R.C. Sproul in his classic book, is “one of the most important ideas that a Christian can ever grapple with. It is basic to our whole understanding of God and of Christianity” (12).

Holiness Carries Us to the Brink

In trying to define the almost indefinable, John Piper draws in a…

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We're serious about moving books.

At Desiring God, we seek to spread far and wide the "good news of great joy . . . for all the people" (Luke 2:10). And we aim to do this as freely as possible. One way we do that is through partners who join us in distribution through our outreach case specials by suggested donation.

While our ministry energies are focused primarily through our website, we also stand ready to move books in bulk so you can help us in the spreading. We've arranged for extraordinary case-lot specials on some of John Piper's books geared especially for outreach efforts. These titles are packaged in bulk, priced at the lowest possible rates (as suggested donations), ready…

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Biblicism. Is this good or bad?

Don Carson explains that there are at least two kinds, one that should be cautioned, and another commended.

Selective proof texting — pulling single verses out of context to prove a doctrine — are often used to support conclusions that need to be challenged on a more comprehensive level. Case in point: propitiation. Commenting that this word occurs rarely in the New Testament, Carson makes the case that it's priority in the gospel must be preserved because it is a repeated conceptual theme in the whole Bible. Just because the specific word is not often used, the biblical storyline shows it to be a major idea — even a "coordinating theme for other …

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One of my female icons growing up was Oprah Winfrey. I dreamed of being like her one day. After high school, I went to college and did everything I could to be successful. I made good grades, took internships, studied abroad, and got into law school. Then something odd happened. I began to sense God calling me to be a wife and mother.

Yikes!

I remember sharing my desire to be a wife and mother with a research professor and not being well received. Apparently I was forfeiting all that the Civil Rights leaders had worked so hard for me to be able to do as a black woman. Without an understanding of how the Lord can change hearts and minds, I can easily see how my decision not to go to law s…

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After preaching on the inestimable value of God’s inspired word on August 11th, I was so moved that the desire to say it again another way kept urging me on. So I wrote this.

The Truth
A Meditation on 2 Timothy 3:14–17

Stay, Timothy. Stay in this firmament,
This world of light within the world. Relent
From wandering, from chasing mist. Remain!
Outside awaits the glistening world, insane.

Stay, Timothy. This sky, this vast terrain
Where you now stand, is not a painting, vain.
Nor is your mother fanciful. God wrought
This world. You were not fooled, but brought.

Stay, Timothy. A thousand flowers, fraught
With heaven's milk and holy fragrance ought
To make you stop, so …

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Greg Beale titled his landmark book We Become What We Worship. His thesis is simple: “What people revere, they resemble, either for ruin or for restoration.” He traces the theme throughout Scripture to show that we are worshippers, and that our worship exposes us and changes us. We either revere the world and are conformed to the sinful patterns of the world, or we revere God and are progressively conformed into his likeness.

Take the book of Romans. Beale points out that the Greek word for representation or image (εἰκόνος) occurs in two places (Romans 1:23, 8:29).

In the first reference, Paul begins with the objects and effects of pagan worship. The pagan worship of an image is an act …

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